Durham transferring

[Marty Jackson]

KO coached five seasons for us. In 12-13, he did a fabulous job and with a team witout expectations kept us in the Big EAst race all year (and qualified for the NCAAs but for the ban he inherited). In 13-14, he won a national championship with a team very few saw as a Top Ten team. Yes, some wanted to criticize him for some regular season losses but if you're being realistic .... In 14-15 we were not good enough, but it was coming off a national championship with a team at apex of the pain from earlier scholarship restrictions. In 15-16, it was certainly solid. More regular season losses than we'd like, but conference tourney championship, one win in the NCAAs and then poor seeding running us into a much better team. And last year was a disaster. One that injuries contributed to certainly, but were there were also problems far deeper than that.

So five years. He succeeded strongly in 2 of them, mildly in 1 of them and didn't succeed in 2. We need to do better, but he has hardly driven the program off the cliff at this point. Let's see how they rebuild the roster and what happens. We've had years before where we think we're going to be very average and we achieve.

I'm pulling for Ollie, but the trendline is not headed in the right direction.
Injuries decimated this season. But if next year doesn't result in a strong regular season along with a round of 32 or sweet 16, I think he's on the hot seat. Not gone, but certainly getting some pressure.

 

[Huskyforlife]

if you switched UConn for Syracuse, there'd be no debate in this thread about how effed they'd be, and how terrible the coach must be.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

To help everyone keep tabs on the rapidly-unfolding situation I've set up a webcam of the Werth Champions Center:

 

[Marty Jackson]

I know what you're saying. You're saying "but other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?"

You can't just "yada yada yada" past a national championship. They are not that easy to come by.

Even simpler, did Ollie peak in year 2?

 

[Towney007]

I'd be more concerned if this was the stuff going on and Ollie wasn't literally doing the most painful thing possible - which is to gut the program of kids like this.

I've been a harsh Ollie critic - and yes - I think we can do better than him and I don't think if we let him go that we're going to plunge into the abyss. But it's not that i'm not rooting for him. The problem with rebuilds is that too often coaches and GM's don't go the full monty. To do it right, you have to literally rip the whole thing to shreds. Keep the guys who are there and want to be there, hopefully they've got some talent - and then recalibrate.

With what's out there and this group's ability to recruit - I think they can duct tape/patch work a decent season together next year. Hopefully they can get a recruiting class a little closer to home and there you go. But the deeper you're willing to strip your roster down, the faster you can get things turned around. So i'm fine with what he's doing.

 

[ctchamps]

It's insane.

We're basically returning Jalen and Christian.

Then three kids coming off season ending injuries, a JUCO and a couple of three-ish star recruits.

We have five open scholarships in April!

I'm stunned someone could look at this and think this is the best we can do.

If the loss of Miller resulted in MAL asking for a release, we can say that the people who wanted KO to shake up the UConn coaching tree and get some outside blood got their wish but with some consequence.

With regards to recruiting either KO is a control freak or he did not have confidence with his staff to close the deal. Hard to imagine with Hobbs but it's possible.
Hopefully this changes with Killings and Chillious. Otherwise we do have problems because these are essentially his coaches now rather than the coaches he inherited.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

Well apparently the staff asked him to leave because he didn't want to hit the gym. I mean if these are the guys we've had - you can see the reason why this team absolutely sucked. I mean sure - Ollie is responsible at the end of the day for recruiting soft-serve ice cream machines, but jesus. At least he's self-correcting. Do everything you can to dig that stuff up and tear it out by the roots.

If he stayed on, and sucked, it would also be Ollie's fault. But when we got him and he was Top 50, no one was complaining.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[sammydabiz]

If it's as easy as that, you have to wonder why Ollie and staff were either:

1. Unable to teach them man to man.
2. Unable to identify that they were incapable of learning man to man.

It's kind of a big deal and does not excuse them.

Playing good man to man defense is all about effort. It's hard to teach maximum effort, either you got it or you don't.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Alright, let me shed some light that will hopefully calm everyone down. As @fleudslipcon said, I've known this was coming for over a week, but because of speculation rules I couldn't say anything on the board. Here's some info from the same source that told me Juwan was leaving that I hope will calm everyone down.

1) There is no team chemistry/hate KO mentality in the locker room
2) Both Vance and Juwan leaving were PRIMARILY because of being homesick. I know that a lot of us don't want to believe that because of what VJ Sr was tweeting.
3) Admittedly, there was some griping by the players that left over playing time (more so by Enoch and some by Vance I would assume), but it was mostly playing time. I know I know I know - "but there was going to be so much time open." That's true, but between a perceived lack of 'proper use' and missing home, 2 of these guys wanted to head back closer to home for that 'home cooked meal.'
4) MAL leaving was primarily because of Miller being let go - not because he was nervous about stepping foot onto a sinking ship
5) This is it. There isn't anyone else leaving. If I end up being wrong on this, I'll take whatever heat you guys can throw at me.
6) Morale is VERY high with the players that are left

This isn't a great look for the UConn Men's BB program right now, but it's not nearly is chaotic up in Storrs as many seem to think it is. Ollie has not lost control of this team.

Good info. But the problem is this. The program has to win next year or it's dead in the water longer term anyway. So we need players. We don't have enough players. So the next news damned well better be about guys deciding to come here. Preferably the grad transfer from Duke, since we can't rely on freshmen.

 

[80shusky]

It's insane.

We're basically returning Jalen and Christian.

Then three kids coming off season ending injuries, a JUCO and a couple of three-ish star recruits.

We have five open scholarships in April!

I'm stunned someone could look at this and think this is the best we can do.

All part of the plan.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm not believing anyone unless it's KO. You can project some people to transfer and whatnot, but in terms of what's actually going on is a larger issue. I will only listen to KO for that.

Well, he's not gonna say much on that score, so I guess you're in the dark?

 

[Towney007]

If he stayed on, and sucked, it would also be Ollie's fault. But when we got him and he was Top 50, no one was complaining.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Recruiting is hard.

 

[3rdbass]

I'm pulling for Ollie, but the trendline is not headed in the right direction.
Injuries decimated this season. But if next year doesn't result in a strong regular season along with a round of 32 or sweet 16, I think he's on the hot seat. Not gone, but certainly getting some pressure.

At this rate we will be lucky to have enough players to play a full season let alone make the tourney and do damage. This is nonsense and is all on KO. If he doesn't have a winning record next year he needs to be fired.

 

[BUConn10]

Did you miss the part a couple pages ago when someone actually cited King Rice as someone worth taking a look at?

Yea there's a guy at my local YMCA I think you'd like too.

 

[8893]

I'm stunned someone could look at this and think this is the best we can do.

I don't think anyone thinks that. Including KO.

 

[ctchamps]

I'm pulling for Ollie, but the trendline is not headed in the right direction.
Injuries decimated this season. But if next year doesn't result in a strong regular season along with a round of 32 or sweet 16, I think he's on the hot seat. Not gone, but certainly getting some pressure.

You're coming here and saying this is the baseline given recent events. Even the football posters who have supported Randy all these years understand that next season or two could be rebuilds.

Next season is a rebuild season for KO because only two players have played together any minutes.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'm getting a really good laugh at anyone here who believes MAL decommitted to UConn because of Glen Miller.

 

[intlzncster]

My response...

hahah I already used that one in this thread. Durham transferring

But you're not wrong.

 

[King Husky]

Interesting...

Don't have time at the moment to real through this whole thread like I usually do, so at the risk of being dead wrong, I'm calling BS on the "being asked to leave." It's probably just to save face. No way anyone on remaining on this depleted roster would be "asked to leave." 4 is the magic number... 4 transfers now... something big definitely happened.

 

[Stainmaster]

Yea there's a guy at my local YMCA I think you'd like too.

Nah, I heard Benedict is waking up early tomorrow and working the phones on Mark Few. Maybe John Beilein if he misses out on Few.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

I'm getting a really good laugh at anyone here who believes MAL decommitted to UConn because of Glen Miller.

So you're saying UConnNation is wrong?

 

[ctchamps]

Well, he's not gonna say much on that score, so I guess you're in the dark?

I agree with you but even if he said something people would still interpret it the way they feel it makes the most sense to them so that would still leave things in the dark.

 

[Vancat]

I'm getting a really good laugh at anyone here who believes MAL decommitted to UConn because of Glen Miller.

“At first, it was mainly because of Coach Miller leaving that made me think about it,” the 6-foot-2 guard told ESPN.com’s Adam Finkelstein. “But as I started to do that, I realized I kind of made my first decision spontaneously right after my visit.” -MAL

 

[Stinger92860]

Is that a good metaphor?

Because either side of that wedding ended up in a bad spot. If Ollie is Frey, then is he going to be lulled and eventually ended by an associate of one of the kids on the outs? If Ollie is Roos Bolton, is Chillious going to end him? If Ollie and UConn are the Starks, then it's going to be 10 years and a very long winter before the Starks (Steve Pikiell as Jon Snow at the Siberian wasteland known as Rutgers) come back into being a national power.

Stop right now! I've only completed season 5. I want to see Ramsey die a long and painful death.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm getting a really good laugh at anyone here who believes MAL decommitted to UConn because of Glen Miller.

Why did he decommit?